A New Light
by cowpenguin
Summary: Sydney starts to see Vaughn in a new light... possibly a romantic one
1. Default Chapter

As Sydney and Michael, sit in a meeting spot under Sydney's apartment, they start to talk.  
  
"I'm suppose to get the computer chip from the Agents in Europe, bring it back, copy it, and give the copied version to SD-6." Sydney starts off.  
  
"Yes, then, report to the garbage can two blocks down from the Credit Daulphine office, and place the chip in a McDonald's back in the trash can."  
  
" I can do that."  
  
"Sydney, are you ok? You seem to be a little out there."  
  
" No, I'm fine. Um, actually, I ran into a former agent- partner of mine of mine… Agent Hicks"  
  
"Really? So why are you so hung up over it?"  
  
Sydney fidgets for a few moments, and finally replies, "We were, involved. Actually, he left without saying goodbye 5 years ago."  
  
"Really", Micheal Vaughn replies, sounding uninterested.  
  
"Yeah… actually.. On our last mission…we went back to where we ended off…" She said trailing off.  
  
"I thought you said you weren't ready for a relationship yet?"  
  
"I thought I wasn't… It's weird.. I don't know… He was the first guy after the…"she hesitates, "the killing, that I really felt comfortable with."  
  
"Are you saying you don't feel comfortable around me?"  
  
"No! of course not! I, just never thought of you in that way."  
  
The situation seems to get a little uncomfortable, and Sydney changes the subject. "Hey, I better get going, ling flight tomarrow"  
  
"yeah, I understand. She you when you get back!"  
  
Vaughn walks away, leaving Sydney standing alone and confused… 


	2. The Confusion

Sydney gets back from her mission, and all goes well. She has had time to think of the conversation she had with her handler that left things on an awkward note. She decides to go over to his apartment to clear the air. As she knocks on the door, she gets slightly nervous, and tries to walk away when the door opens.  
  
"Sydney?"  
  
"yeah… hi, I wanted to let you know that the mission went smoothly, and I completed the copying of the computer chip."  
  
"That's, great! Do you want to come in for a second?" Vaughn says. It's, obvious he wants her to. She has known it for months. But, she is still confused.  
  
"No, I'm good.."  
  
"Hey, Sydney, do you want to grab something to eat tomorrow at a great pizza place?"  
  
"sure! Around 6 o'clock?"  
  
"It's a date!"  
  
Sydney left the door way with a small smile on her face, she saw her handler in a new light… possibly a romantic one. 


	3. First Date

Sydney thinks all day about the conversation last night in the hallway. She starts to think of Vaughn, and wonders what he is doing. She comes to the conclusion that she could have feelings for him.  
  
At 4 o' clock , she starts to get ready for her date. She tells Francie she is going out with a friend she met at a business meeting, and needs her help to get dressed up.  
  
"So, what is this guy like, Sydney?"  
  
"Well, he is tall, blond hair…"  
  
"…And?"  
  
"and, his name is Michael Vaughn. I've known him for a few months, but he asked me out last night."  
  
"Really? Is he cute? Where are you going?"  
  
"He is taking me to a pizza place in 2 hours."  
  
"Oh! Pizza is SO romantic"  
  
"Hey! It's a first date! Don't look so far into it!"  
  
"I'm sorry!" Francie moves over to the closest, motioning to a black dress. "How about this for tonight?"  
  
"I don't know. You don't think it's too sexy?"  
  
"Of course not! You can NEVER go wrong with a little black dress!"  
  
They both laugh, and Sydney gets ready.  
  
Vaughn also prepares across town. He decides instead of the suit he usually wears, he chooses a red sweeter, and black dress paints. He looks in he mirror one last time, before sighing and leaving the apartment.  
  
At 6 o' clock, Sydney greets Vaughn at the pizza place.  
  
"Your gonna LOVE it here!" he tells her, smiling.  
  
"Hey, you don't think we could get in trouble meeting like this, right?" Sydney says, innocently.  
  
"Eh, probably, but I'm not letting the government run my love life."  
  
They eat in silence, and Sydney starts talking again.  
  
" You know, I've never really thought of actually going out with you.. you know, like… a date?"  
  
" To tell you the truth, I have. You mean, you haven't picked up on all of the signals I've given you?"  
  
:" Well, I have, but, I kept it in the back of my mind… not really thinking about it, in that way… you know?"  
  
His smile faded, as he went back to eating.  
  
Sydney panicked and finally said, " I don't mean it in that way, I hope you know that."  
  
"Yeah, I understand."  
  
Suddenly, Sydney starts to get really dizzy. She gets up to walk to the bathroom, but can't see straight and sits back down.  
  
"Are you OK, Sydney?" Vaughn asks  
  
"no, I suddenly got really dizzy. It happens a lot. I probably have low blood sugar or something."  
  
"Do you want get this to go, and you can lie down on the cough at my place?"  
  
Reluctantly, she replies, "sure, yeah."  
  
They get everything packed up, and Vaughn lets Sydney lean on him as they walked back to his place, 2 blocks away. 


	4. Walk home

"I'm so sorry about this, I didn't mean to ruin our date."  
  
"Don't worry about it, it's kind of sexy."  
  
"Kind of funny that men think of anything as a pick up line."  
  
" This is it! Do you think you can hold on to the post for a second while I open the door?"  
  
"Sure! I can manage."  
  
He leans Sydney on the post so he can open the door. She smiles to herself, as she watches him fidget with the keys.  
  
"All open. Want help?"  
  
"Nah, I think the dizzy spell is over."  
  
"Ha! An easy way to get to my apartment!" He says, jokingly.  
  
They walk up stairs, and get into his apartment. She notices that it is pretty chic for a guy who works for the CIA. Black couch, nice stereo system, etc.  
  
"Nice house!"  
  
"Thanks"  
  
They sit down on the couch, and talk for a while.  
  
"I'm glad we went on this date. Something new." Sydney starts off.  
  
"Yeah, I've been waiting for this for a while."  
  
"Hey, what time is it?"  
  
Vaughn glances at his clock, and it says 10:15  
  
"Wow, time flies really fast. It's 10:15."  
  
"Really? Wow.. I thought it would be around 8 or something.."  
  
"Hey, do you want to see the rest of the house?" Vaughn inquires.  
  
"Sure. I'd love to."  
  
He takes her hand and leads her through the house.  
  
"First stop; the bathroom!"  
  
"Oh! VERY nice!"  
  
They walk to some other rooms, and finally stop at the bedroom.  
  
Michael hesitates, before saying, "This is the bedroom." Opening the door to the room to show the contents inside.  
  
They stand at the bedroom door for a while, in an awkward silence, before Sydney snaps out of her trance, and goes to the living room again.  
  
She sits down on the cough again, and states, "This has been a great night!"  
  
"Yeah, thanks for meeting me a the pizza place.. And you look great in that black dress…" He trails off, and they stare into each other's eyes.  
  
After what seemed like hours, Sydney goes in for the kiss. She leans in, but before their lips touch, Vaughn pulls away.  
  
"I don't think we can do this."  
  
"Why not? You obviously find me attractive, and it's quite apparent I like you, too."  
  
"Are you sure this I what you want?"  
  
"I know what I want."  
  
With that, Sydney goes in for the kiss, this time succeeding. They start off slow, but after a while speed up.  
  
The reposition themselves, and with his back against the arm of the couch, Sydney sits in his lap kissing his with her head pointed up towards him. They start to laugh, and after a while, they both fall asliip, still kissing, in each other's arms. 


	5. Overslept

Sydney flutters her eyes open as a ray of sunlight shines in her eyes. It takes her a minute to remember where she is, but she realizes that she is at Michael Vaughn's house, in the same spot she fell asleep in last night. As she thinks about what happened to her last night, she is startled by a voice.  
  
"I didn't realized sleeping together was part of the date." Michael jokingly says to Sydney.  
  
"Oh, I didn't realize you were up."  
  
"I just woke up, probably the same time you did. I noticed that you were awake and figured I'd say something"  
  
"This is sort of awkward."  
  
"Yes, me being your handler and all. We are breaking protocol, you know!"  
  
"Don't joke about it! We could get in trouble!"  
  
The reposition themselves so they are both sitting next to each other on the couch.  
  
After a long silence, Sydney says, "I never really saw you in this way before. I'm actually glad that I did. Screw protocol."  
  
"heh! Now you get it! I'm glad we gave it a chance. Hey, what time is it?"  
  
They get up to go find a clock, assuming the one in the living room that says 11 o' clock, must be broken, because they had to be in the office at 10 o' clock.  
  
They find another clock, and it indeed is 11 o 'clock.  
  
"Great. Were gonna be late. People are going to talk. Not like they already haven't talked before." Michael states.  
  
"Oh. No. I have to wear the same clothes I wore yesterday. How embarrassing. Is there anyway you can talk me home?"  
  
"Sure. But, I bet people have already started their daily gossip, since both of us are over an hour late. Want me to give you a ride?"  
  
"No, that probably wouldn't be a good idea. I really had a good time last night."  
  
"yeah. Me too. Hey, after your trip, you want to do that again?"  
  
"Yes! I'll call you when I get back."  
  
He walks her to his car, and drives her over to her place, After dropping her off at her apartment, he notices Francie, standing in the window. Obviously she noticed Sydney didn't come home that night. He waits until she gets inside, before speeding off to work, thinking and smiling about the night before. 


	6. The rumor mill

"Excuse me, but where have you been?" Scolds Francie.  
  
Sydney had just walked in the door, and without taking three steps, she is already being interrogated.  
  
"Michael dropped me off. Nothing happened! We were kissing on the couch, when we fell asleep."  
  
"Yes, and that is what Charlie said".  
  
"I'm not Charlie. Trust me. Nothing happened. We just fell… asleep."  
  
"Ok, I get it. You don't want to tell me."  
  
Sydney decides to end the conversation, and goes to get changed. As she changes in her room, she hears Francie yell down the hallway, "Do you realize you are over an hour late for work?"  
  
  
  
Sydney walks into the CIA building, and just makes a meeting she needed to be in.  
  
"Sydney, you DO realize you should have been here over an hour ago?" her father whispers to her.  
  
"Yes, I think I forgot to change my clocks over to day light savings time." She replies, as she glances over at Vaughn who is sitting at the other side of the room. He looks away and smiles to himself. She could feel the stares coming from the other agents as the meeting went on. Had Michael been subjected to this earlier? She thought to herself.  
  
After the meeting she waits a few minutes before walking to Vaughn's office. She notices on the door, there is a sign that says, "Dr. Love". She is not amused, and she tears it down as she walks into his office.  
  
"So, people DO talk." Sydney starts the conversation with.  
  
Vaughn has a slight frown on his face, as he is reading the paper in front of him. After a long silence, he says, "You shouldn't be in here. People will start to talk more."  
  
"If we don't go about our daily business, then people will suspect that something DID happen."  
  
"But, we know that it didn't!"  
  
"It doesn't matter, the damage has been done."  
  
Getting frustrated, Sydney storms out of the office as she says, " I just wanted to say 'bye' before I left."  
  
Vaughn looks up at the open doorway, as everyone stares into his office.  
  
"Damnit." He says to himself. 


	7. The Confession

This is like a flashback on Vaughn's POV before Sydney gets to work… just wanted to clear that up before it gets read and confuses everyone.. I hope you like it so far!  
  
He realized he just made an incredibly stupid mistake. Sydney, a woman he had been pining for since the first time he saw her, finally came around to going on a date with him. They had even spent the night together in each other's arms. This is what he had wanted. But instead of letting her get close to him, he pushed her away, because he cared what the others in the office thought. Earlier that day he walked in and there were whispers and stares.  
  
"I hear he and Agent Bristow got together last night."  
  
"He is over an hour late, and she hasn't even gotten here yet"  
  
"I heard the neighbors had to call the police because of the noise coming from his apartment."  
  
Even though they were whispers, he could still here them.  
  
He got to his office, and there was a sign on his door that read, "If the office is a rockin', don't come a knockin'". He ripped it down and slammed the door. Just as he sits down, the door opens, and there is his friend, Agent Weiss.  
  
"I heard you And Sydney got together last night! How did it go?"  
  
It's not what you think."  
  
"Oh really, because the whole office is talking about it now."  
  
"What have you heard?"  
  
"I heard that you two were kicked out of a restaurant for getting to touchy- feely, and the neighbors called the police on you because you guys were too loud. How much is right?"  
  
"None of it, actually."  
  
"Yeah, and you're an hour late why…"  
  
He pauses for a second, and thinks to himself 'What do I tell him? Do I tell him the truth, or lie? He IS my friend…' Vaughn's heart started pounding. He was under a lot of pressure. He knew going out with Sydney would be hard, but he didn't think it would be so hard. He liked her. A lot.  
  
"Hello? Are you in there, man?" Weiss says to Vaughn.  
  
"Yeah, sorry, just thinking."  
  
"You do realize that your breaking protocol…you're her handler!"  
  
"Yes I realize that!"  
  
"Oh! So something DID happen!"  
  
He gets up to shut the door, glares at his friend, and sits back down.  
  
"You want to know the truth?" He starts off.  
  
"Of course I do! Who doesn't?" Weiss fires back.  
  
"Don't tell anyone, we want to keep it low key."  
  
"Go on.."  
  
"OK, so, I asked Sydney out for pizza. We went out, and after a while, she got a dizzy spell, and I brought her back to my place. We were sitting on the couch, and started to kiss. Then, we fell asleep on the couch. Nothing happened." Vaughn spills.  
  
"Well, you guys so stay way from each other for a while, wait until it dies down. You know?"  
  
"Yes. I really like her though. We had a great time last night."  
  
"Yep, I know, just, stay away for a little bit. Hey, don't you have that meeting to go to?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm leaving in a minute."  
  
Weiss walks out of the room while Michael sighs to himself. He thinks for a moment, then gets up and goes to the meeting. I hope Sydney is there… he thinks to himself as he hears the whispering around him. . 


End file.
